


the way we used to be

by aideyn



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Characters from the second movie will make appearances, Fluff and Angst, Fluff with Spikes of Angst, Gen, Ignoring the second movie, Implied/Referenced Character Death (Sort of), Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Profanity/Mature Language, Tags Contain Spoilers, light Ben/Mal and hints of ot4/ot5 but mostly no romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-20 21:33:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16563533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aideyn/pseuds/aideyn
Summary: Things were far better off of the Isle than on it. They all knew that.But sometimes they couldn't help but long for something familiar.For a place where they felt like they belonged.For a time when they were the best of the worst and not the worst of the best.





	1. rough edges

Many things had changed in the months that the four had been living in Auradon. They went to class and they didn’t start fights. They weren’t immediately hostile when people spoke to them and went out of their way to participate in extracurriculars. Genuine compliments came out a little easier and scathing insults were bitten back more often than they weren’t.

But they would never be perfect beacons of brightly shining goodness. 

There were times when Jay’s hands still found their way into purses, bags, and pockets-- even if those items then found their way into the lost and found bin shortly afterward. Times when Mal was still terrifying-- where she took some satisfaction in the way students tripped over themselves to get out of her sight when she turned her flashing green eyes in their direction.

There were times when Evie still found herself lying, downplaying her academic achievements and flirting with those that she had no interest in, just to feel their eyes follow her across a room. And times where Carlos would fall to the outskirts of a crowd and disappear from sight for hours at a time.

They knew they weren’t perfect, but it still hurt to be reminded that their best wasn’t good enough.

Like on the days when Ben saw fit to personally return everything in the lost and found box, eyes full of a well-meaning apology that never failed to sting Jay’s pride. When Jane would follow the trail of skittish students left in Mal’s wake, soothing ruffled feathers and quietly apologizing for things she didn’t do. The times Lonnie would stand between Evie and some prince, frowning slightly, and drag her to the library to study. The quiet, too-gentle tone Doug would adopt when Carlos looked like he was getting ready to bolt.

Sharp reminders that, at their core, they were not a good fit for pretty perfect Auradon. That they were flawed. Works in progress. That they were susceptible to relapse into behavior not fit for polite society. That excuses needed to be made for them. That they needed _real_ good people to vouch for their worth. 

It was like all of Auradon had decided that they should be perfect now. They were _supposed_ to be the poster children for bringing over all of the kids on the Isle. They were _supposed_ to be good examples of how to behave for the handful who had already been brought over. 

The feeling of being weighed and found wanting was a slimy familiar ache that bore down on their shoulders. And the more the feeling weighed on them, the quicker the time between ‘bad days’ had shrunk. And shrunk. And shrunk. Until it was a solid week of ‘bad days’ and none of them could stand to see the pity in their friends’ eyes for even one second longer.

So they attempted to hole up in Jay and Carlos’s room. Attempted being the keyword.

First came Lonnie, asking them to join her on a trip to the mall, and then Doug, asking if they’d like to study with him in the library. So they swapped rooms. 

But then came Jane, asking if they wanted to join in making a special lunch in the dorm kitchens. And then Ben, his excuse so flimsy that it hadn’t even been clear what he had wanted them to do with him. 

So they went out to the corner of the quad, underneath the shade of an enormous oak that mostly hid them from the view of the footpath. There weren’t video games, sketchbooks, dress forms or experiments to distract them, but that didn’t matter as much as just taking some time to breathe, away and apart from the worrying Auradians. 

So when Fairy Godmother popped around the trunk of the tree, just to ‘check up on them’ that really was the final straw.

Mal’s eyes were a solid unearthly green as she watched Fairy Godmother re-enter the school after the conversation about their recently completed finals had awkwardly, painfully, petered out. Her hands flexed into fists as she hoisted herself up and jerked her head silently for the other three to follow her into the woods surrounding the school. 

Silence reigned between them for long minutes, though the foreboding weight on their shoulders felt less heavy with every step into the thick trees.

Normalcy descended on them suddenly when Jay attempted to tackle Carlos and was sent flying when the smaller teen darted out of the way at the last minute. They threw elbows and only barely pulled back their punches and kicks. The noise of their spirited yelling startling all the animals nearby into fleeing, helped in no small part by the fact that Dude was gleefully barking at their heels as he jumped next to them. 

Mal and Evie laughed as they watched before they too managed to relax. Evie fixed her makeup in her magic mirror, still managing to gracefully avoid getting tangled up in any roots, branches or the boys’ play fight--all without looking like she was paying one bit of attention to her surroundings. Mal pulled her spellbook out of her bag, her thumb rubbing circles in its cover, even as her eyes stayed focused on the overgrown deer path they were winding their way along.

The three’s individual antics eventually died down and they traveled in a comfortable quiet for a time again.

“It’s been ages since it’s been just us.” Carlos’s tone wasn’t exactly wistful, but it was calm and quiet in a way that it hadn’t been all week. Dude looked relaxed too, his head tucked into Carlos’s elbow, content to be carried while he rested his stubby legs. 

“I know, I’m sorry-- the ladies just can’t stay away from me, man.” 

Mal and Carlos rolled their eyes while Evie giggled quietly and Jay ran his hand through his hair, giving them an exaggerated wink. As soon as she was done laughing, Evie hurried up so she and Mal were side-by-side as they continued on.

“By the way, where are we going M?” 

“The Enchanted Lake-- if I’m recalling the trail correctly. If I’m not-- well... We left a pretty clear path that we can follow back, so I’m not too worried about getting lost.”

Evie’s eyes lit up at the news. “Oh-- where you and Ben went on your first date right? I thought you had to drive there?” She sped up a bit, excited at the prospect of seeing the lake. Without seeming to think about it, and in the span of one breath, the other three matched her quicker pace.

“You do if you want to follow a well-maintained footpath and make your way across a charming little bridge. But Ben said that there were lots of little deer paths and hiking trails to it.” The smile tucked into the corners of Mal’s mouth was much softer than the one she had been leveling at people all week. “We’ve been back here together a few times since then. We came this way once.” Her eyes slid down the path, peering deeper and deeper into the woods as they continued.

Jay blinked, peering forward as well-- as if by looking harder he would spot the body of water through the thick foliage and across the remaining mile of trail in front of them. “Oh-- that’s cool. You know, it’s pretty hot, I could go for a dip.”

Carlos grimaced, tucking his face into Dude’s fur. “This is the place that washed off the love spell, right? Doesn’t sound like a place we should go skinny dipping in.”

But the heat of the late afternoon was pretty stifling, already the three of them were streaked with sweat (somehow Evie looked as flawless as she had before they had left the school grounds) and all of them were a bit overheated… Swimming did sound like an attractive prospect.

Mal waved off Carlos’s reservations with her free hand. “Don’t worry, if it wasn’t safe Ben wouldn’t have gone swimming in it in the first place. And none of us have any spells cast on us for it to wash away.” She paused for a moment before quietly adding, “He’s been teaching me to swim there, the water is really refreshing.”

The other three really were growing kind here on the mainland, as none of them made even one comment about the blush that sat high on her cheeks that had nothing to do with the heat of the day or the strain of the hike.

“Perfect, then you can rescue us all when we drown.” Carlos’s comment was all bark and no bite, the snark in his tone more teasing than angry. The other three laughed and Dude barked along with them so as not to be left out of the fun.

Soon enough, the sound of water reached their ears and the energy between the four began to shift again. Carlos set Dude down and Mal and Evie tucked their belongings back into their bags, as their quick walk grew to a trot and then a full-blown run. It wasn’t challenging-- they still had breath enough to shout and laugh, but it was familiar. Achingly familiar and comforting in a way that none of them needed to vocalize. Like running roughshod through the marketplace or on the docks, laughing as people cursed them as they passed-- taking what they needed and claiming what they wanted. Memories of being breathless and feeling exhilarated-- free to do whatever they wished.

The race ended with Jay in a clear lead-- only because Carlos had slowed down to make sure Dude hadn’t been left behind-- with Mal coming in third and Evie bringing up the rear. (Evie could have done better too, but she still looked flawlessly put together, which was probably an acceptable trade for speed in her book.) Their laughter echoed along the top of the lake, over the sound of the waterfall and the animals on the other side of the clearing who hadn’t been frightened away by their approach.

The lake was just as beautiful as it always was-- clear and clean and yet somehow a soft green, almost glowing as the sun was reflected in it’s slowly shifting surface. 

Despite all joking reservations on Carlos’s part, all four of the teens went to the pavilion surrounded by stone columns, tossing their clothes and belongings into a pile before making their way to the lake’s edge in just their underclothes. Even Dude joined them, cheerfully bouncing around in the shallow water and splashing them repeatedly. 

Mal dove in, kicking her feet and wheeling her arms as she propelled her body into the center of the lake. Ben had assured her she could stick to the edges-- but she had not wanted the water to defeat her like that. So it was a point of pride to swim to the center every time she came here. Resurfacing, green eyes sought out her friends' positions out of habit.

Evie and Carlos sat back to back on the smooth flat rocks in the shallows, taking turns finding appropriately sized lake litter that they could toss for Dude to fetch. Jay had followed her in the furthest, walking in till the water was about neck high. Though his hair and face were entirely soaked, so he must have dipped under for a moment before resurfacing.

Mal then dragged her gaze around the perimeter of the clearing, the final bit of tension she hadn’t known she was carrying ebbing away when no well-meaning, but ultimately suffocating, Auradians popped out from behind the trees.

Finally free to relax-- it would be a few hours before anyone would think to check the lake, if they still hadn’t gotten the hint that the four wanted to be left alone-- Mal lay back in the water, arms and legs spread as she let her body float to the surface. The sun, previously stifling, felt good on her skin as she gently bobbed in the enchanted lake.

Summer was fast approaching, their first Summer in Auradon and the heat on the mainland was much different than the heat that penetrated the thick smog that clung to the Isle underneath the barrier. Jay seemed the most unphased by the change-- though he had always had it the roughest during Isle winters, so perhaps it was only fair-- with Evie and Mal being the most miserable in the heat. But more than the weather, there was something else that weighed on her shoulders as the days leading up to break flew by. 

The winter holidays had been a whirlwind of a week at the castle. They had attended holiday parties and taken part in yearly traditions. There had been royals and nobles and other notable figures from all over the kingdom staying in the guest wing of the castle with them. They were just four extra names on the guest list. Ben had been swamped with ‘Kingly Duties’, unable to play host to them-- which was probably for the best. The chaos of the events meant that more often than not, they could simply disappear after they had their fill of parties and people for the evening. 

And their fill was quite small. Even for Evie, who loved to create their outfits and coo over the apparel that the other guests were wearing. It was hard to relax when the tension that rose in any room they entered was so thick you could cut it with a knife. And the cold or awkward silences they left in their wake could have put even the howling winter winds to shame. 

Realizing that his Isle friends were still considered less than second-class by the rest of the party-guests would have just made Ben upset. He was too good when it came to that sort of thing. Expecting the best in people. It was better he didn’t know. 

The summer break from school seemed like it would be even worse though. Three whole months of vacation. And only a handful of summer events like balls or festivals to fill the time. Nothing to distract Ben from his hovering. Nothing to distract them from the fact that the castle most definitely did not feel like home. That they really had no ‘home’ to speak of here in Auradon.

“Mal!”

Jay’s voice penetrated Mal’s introspective floating. She lifted her head up to hear him better-- and promptly threw the delicate balance of her body into disarray, splashing gracelessly as she flipped over to tread water upright. “Yeah?”

“Teach me how to float like that, it looks fantastic.” 

Mal’s eyes cut to Evie and Carlos, and then the perimeter again. Evie also looked interested in learning to float, stepping out to join Jay deeper in the lake. Carlos, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content to lay in the shallows supported by stone, where Dude could still reach the lake bottom and sit beside him. 

She was about to usher them towards the shallower part of the lake when her foot caught on something strange in the water, nearly sending her face first under the water. Jay and Carlos laughed, Evie looked amused, though she did also manage to voice some concern.

“You alright M?” 

Jay waited until she was upright and balanced before he splashed her playfully. “On second thought maybe _I_ should be prepared to save you if you drown.” 

Mal flipped him the bird before waving Evie’s concerns aside. “I’m fine, just stepped on something odd.” The half-fae stepped back, peering through the clear water for whatever she had caught her foot on. “Only I can’t see what it was…” 

Evie and Jay joined her search, running their feet along the lake bed near where Mal had tripped. Evie then promptly also nearly slipped-- sputtering and laughing as she righted herself. “Oh! I think I just stepped on it too. It’s -- round, sort of? Oh evil, I lost it.”

“I’ll look!” Jay was already dipping his head back under before the girls could open their mouths. Evie and Mal framed the approximate area where they had stumbled, looking down at Jay’s mass of floating dark hair as he turned his head this way and that. 

It only took him a moment of searching before he ducked deeper into the water, hands reaching out for something they couldn’t see. 

“Found it!” He surfaced triumphantly brandishing a familiar round glowing orb covered in blunt spikes, his self-satisfied grin just a flash of white behind the curtain of his dark hair. He ducked under again, resurfacing once the hair was out of his eyes. 

Mal’s mouth dropped open, reaching out to snatch the stone from Jay’s hands-- but the former thief held tight to it. She settled for wrapping her hands around his, green eyes wide as she took in the familiar wishing stone. “I’ve seen this! I thought Ben was drowning when he was at the lake bottom prying this loose!”

Carlos stood and waded in to join them in the chest-high water, brown eyes narrowed with curiosity. 

“It’s pretty!” Evie leaned on Jay’s arm, peering at the stone with eager eyes as the Arabian turned it over in his hands so they could take in the whole stone-- though his hands fell still when he turned it to reveal a smear of blood. 

“Did one of you cut your foot on it?” Even as he asked the question, Jay was already looking at their legs below the water, handing the stone to Carlos as the girls handed him their feet so he could brush them off and check for injuries. Evie’s feet were fine-- but Mal did indeed have a long cut on one foot. 

“We should go back and clean that out M. We don’t have any bandages to wrap it here,” Evie held her hand out to Carlos, giving the stone a curious look after he passed it to her. “The amount of blood on this makes me think that it might be deep too.”

“Swimming in dirty lake water probably isn’t good for it either.” Carlos agreed.

When Jay, Carlos, and Evie made to exit the lake Mal eyes flashed green and she splashed them with a scowl, before her hands rested on her hips, feet planted firmly where she stood.

“I’m _fine_.” 

Frowning, Evie looked up from the stone, raising a brow at the half-fae. “Mal...”

“Don’t you Mal, me. I don’t want to go back yet. And this is an enchanted lake-- if anything shouldn’t that heal it or something?” She threw her arms wide, gesturing to the entire lake like it should prove her point.

Evie was the first to step back into the water towards Mal, but Jay and Carlos were only a half step behind.

“We have to go back eventually M.” Evie’s voice wouldn’t be called gentle by any Auradian, but it was kind in a way that it couldn’t have been under the barrier. Jay and Carlos’s expressions were similarly soft, full of undisguised concern and some unspoken understanding at her frustration. Such shows of weakness would have been something to mock and take advantage of on the Isle. Only a handful of months but it really made all the difference. 

Mal’s blood felt like it was boiling. All this change, all this growth-- and what did it matter? Why couldn’t they appreciate it? Why was the only thing everyone seemed to focus on their rough edges? Her face felt hot and tight in a way that had nothing to do with the sun beating down on them from overhead. Her cheeks were wet in places where the lake water hadn’t yet touched it. She slammed her fists down on the water beside her, hating the way her throat felt too tight to speak properly.

“Why E? It’s not like it’s home. It’s not like we _have_ a home to go back to. We’re just--- guests-- poorly behaved guests!” 

Mal’s eyes flashed an emerald glowing green again as they fell on the stone and she tore it out of Evie’s hand-- brandishing it as though it were responsible for their situation.

“And this-- first I think Ben is drowning, and now it cuts my foot? What is this piece of shit wishing stone even good for?” The stone soared through the air, up the lake and toward the waterfall. “It won’t change the fact we don’t fit here-- that I can’t--,” 

Mal sagged in the water, fiery energy leaving her as quickly as it had washed over her. Evie wrapped her arms around Mal, letting the other girl bury her face in her neck to hide the tears that were coursing down her face. Jay barely hesitated before wrapping his arms around the pair of them as well, with Carlos stepping up to rest his chin on Mal’s shoulder. 

“I don’t know what to do. I miss-- I miss knowing what to do.” The half-fae’s voice was so soft it was almost lost under the sound of the waterfall, but they were all close enough to hear it. “Things made sense-- so much more sense and I knew how to keep you all safe.” The last words were even softer still, a tiny whisper of a confession.

They stood in silence for a few moments, letting Mal catch her breath and regain her composure without prodding or coddling. When her breath had returned to normal, the other three drew back a little. Mal’s face was red and a little blotchy, but her eyes were clear and their normal hazel-green. 

“I miss it too sometimes… being virtuous is exhausting. Like, why is it such a crime if I flirt or like it when people pay attention to me.” Evie laughed at her own words as she dabbed at her eyes delicately. Somehow she managed to wipe the runoff from her makeup from her cheek cleanly even without a mirror.

“Same-- not all of it, obviously. But, I miss not giving a fuck what anyone else thought of us. Thought of me.” Jay’s confession wasn’t as soft as Mal’s, and he tried to undercut the vulnerable note in his voice with a halfhearted cheeky grin at the end, but his eyes were earnest.

“Me too… There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be alone. There’s so many people and they’re always _talking_ and they have no sense of personal space.” The slight irony of his words wasn’t lost on the other three as Carlos tucked himself tighter into their collective group hug.

They stood, pressed together in the chest-high water in silence for long minutes before Mal shifted and winced. 

Jay pulled back from the hug. “Okay, it’s actually time to go, before we have to lop your foot off to prevent you from losing your leg or something.” 

Carlos nodded, one hand on Mal’s back between her shoulder blades. “We don’t need a home Mal, so long as we have each other. We’ll figure this out somehow, we’ll make it work.”

Evie pulled back again with her hands on Mal’s cheeks, smiling brightly. “Besides, Doug says if I keep up the dressmaking, I’ll have enough to buy a castle before too long-- or at least a big mansion. You can have a tower art studio.” 

The four laughed and made their way out of the lake, Carlos splashing and playfully shoving Evie and demanding a laboratory of his own in their future castle. Mal leaned on Jay, trying not to grind dirt into the cut on her foot as they waded out. 

Dude shook himself off on the lake’s edge, spraying them all with water and barking happily at their yells of protest. 

Despite the insistence that they go back, none of the four pushed to leave quite so quickly, instead opting to lounge in the afternoon sun to dry off before they put their clothes back on. --Though Carlos did take it as an opportunity to wash the cut clean of mud and grit, and Evie produced a silk handkerchief from her bag that she wrapped around it (Despite Mal’s protest for ruining the fabric.) so it would have some protection and padding for their walk back.

It wasn’t until the sun was starting to disappear behind the tops of the trees that the four slowly pulled their clothes on, shoulders hunched and motions deliberately slow. Though when Mal finally stood, she realized with a start that maybe the languid pace wasn’t quite as deliberate as she had first thought. 

Her body felt like it was moving forward while her head was swimming backwards, her eyes sliding through darkness as she tried to focus on the color and light in the center of her vision only for it to get lost in the liquidy blackness of her periferie. 

“Hah?” Her tongue felt swollen and heavy in her mouth and trying not to panic she forced her eyes to focus and search for her friends. 

Evie looked pale, holding herself up with her palms, half laying on the stone of the pavilion while she gasped for breath. Carlos trembled, curled in on himself on the floor while clutching his stomach. And Jay was near the two of them-- on his knees sweating and wide-eyed. 

Mal slid to her hands and knees as her stomach heaved as though she were spinning very quickly, crawling to the center of the stone pavilion. Her face felt hot and mind was fuzzy as she blindly sought out her friends, shuffling forward until one hand tightened on the hem of Evie’s skirt and the other made a fist in the back of Jay’s jacket.

She strained to keep her eyes open long enough to make sure that the other three also had a tight grip on each other. No matter if one of them let go-- there were other hands keeping them all in place. That was good… Especially with the way that the pavilion was spinning around them-- stone columns shifting around as though she were twirling. Even though she knew she couldn’t be moving with her body almost entirely prone on the slowly cooling stone. 

Mal wasn’t sure if she was trembling now or if it was Carlos’s knee tucked against her. But the spinning was only getting faster and the haze in her mind was drowning out all plans to call out for help. 

And then the inky blackness of unconsciousness slipped over her.


	2. fight or flight

Mal was conscious of the press of familiar bodies around her before much of anything else. That was okay-- if they were all together that meant they were safe. Though... it also often meant one of them was injured too. Still too groggy with sleep to recall how exactly they had ended up like this, she took stock of her own body. She was… warm. Mostly pleasantly warm, though the parts of her that were pressed against the others were a little bit hot.

She untangled her legs from the heap of her friends, yawning and squeezing her eyes shut as she considered sitting up. She didn’t feel battered or bruised anywhere... Her foot stung a little and her muscles felt a bit stiff, but there was nothing that warranted spending a night in the safe house with the others. She felt a bit exhausted too… but strangely not hungry. Odd. 

Mal tapped her hand on Jay’s side, unable to stop herself from grinning wickedly as he groaned in protest. “Stop complaining. Are you injured?”

“What? Of course not, why would I be.” Jay shoved her grumpily, inadvertently rousing the other two in the process. Evie mimicked Jay’s groan of protest, though hers was more delicate and ladylike. Even half asleep she was like that. She was always like that. Mal poked the reticent Evie while repeating the question, giving Carlos a moment to compose himself before she would ask him too.

It didn’t matter if they were together or not, Carlos always woke up quiet and tense. It wasn’t a sign of weakness though, and she’d teach anyone that would imply that it was _real quick_ why they should keep their mouths shut. Being immediately alert after waking was a good quality to have, no matter why you had it. But even as Evie murmured assurances that she also was uninjured, Mal never felt the release of tension from where her side was pressed against Carlos’s legs. 

“Pup?” Jay had apparently noticed it too and the three of them opened their eyes-- immediately awake, alert and sitting up. Carlos had been injured then-- but why couldn’t she recall how…? As soon as their eyes adjusted, however, it was very clear they weren’t in the safe house. There were trees all around them... and a wide clear open sky above them. 

Mal hissed, Jay swore and Evie gasped.

Carlos’s eyes were wide, white visible all around his pupils as they darted from face to face, and then back to their surroundings. “So, I guess that means that none of you know where we are either.”

The four were on their feet in seconds, back to back as they surveyed the forest clearing and softly glowing green lake. The water was the only thing that seemed to have any color-- under the moon, everything was swallowed in muted shades of gray. But it wasn’t the forest that kept drawing their gaze--- Instead, they had to fight to tear their eyes away from the sky. It was so clear... with soft fluffy clouds and an uncountable number of stars shining down on them.

“We must be in Auradon.”

Mal was quietly glad that none of them made fun of her for so ludicrous a statement. But it was the only thing that made sense. Even if somehow the barrier had fallen from over the Isle-- the forest there wasn’t so vibrant or thick with trees, nor were there any magical-looking lakes. She tightened a hand on Evie’s arm, pleased to see Jay similarly clutching Carlos’s shoulder. Their scientist and alchemist were no dead weight when it came to a fight, but Mal and Jay were much better unarmed than either of them.

Before Mal could start to formulate a plan-- any plan-- an unfamiliar noise ripped through the air, leaving the four scrambling desperately to find it’s source. They didn’t have to look long. A small brown _dog_ stood at the entrance to the pavilion where the four had been laying, tail pumping from side to side fiercely as the little creature barked again.

While Mal didn’t believe half of Cruella’s stories about dogs, it was very clear from his stiff posture and ragged breathing that Carlos did. And they were cornered-- unless they took the risk of trying to cross the lake with no idea how deep it was or what lived in it. The dog itself looked small enough though-- even if there was any truth to what Cruella said, she was confident that she and Jay could take the thing down before it could do much damage to them. But before Mal could move to stand between Carlos and the dog, the animal lept towards them, still waving its tail and barking loudly.

Carlos was out of Jay’s grip and dodging around the beast before any of them could so much as twitch. And the dog was far more concerned with the smaller boy than it was with the rest of them-- immediately giving chase. As she scrambled to follow, Mal had no time to marvel at the strange greenness of the Auradian forest or be surprised by the satchel she could feel beating rhythmically against her thigh that she had never seen before. 

Carlos was silent as he ran-- which would have made following him in the dim forest nearly impossible if the dog wasn’t acting as a beacon, loudly broadcasting the two’s position to the other three. They were no slouches when it came to running, but keeping up with Carlos at top speed was difficult on a good day-- and Mal’s foot stung with each thud of her boot against the solid dry ground. Carlos was only getting faster and faster too, a streak of black, white and red in between the tree trunks in front of her.

Jay was the nearest to Carlos and the dog-- though even he was having trouble closing the gap-- which was probably why he noticed it first. 

“Carlos! ‘Los-- it’s a trap!”

Mal’s eyes widened with shock as she realized what Jay was talking about. The dog would occasionally catch up and run beside Carlos-- causing him to veer off in the other direction. The dog was _leading them somewhere._ A cold chill dripped down her spine, as she wondered what they were being forced into a path towards.

But it was too late.

The edge of the forest was in sight now and the dog wouldn’t allow Carlos to double back to retreat into the woods again. Jay was still yards behind, unable to fend off the mutt or even try to shift its focus. 

Carlos was halfway across the lawn before Mal could even take in the building they were being shepherded towards. It was a massive looking manor-- maybe even a small castle, with perfectly manicured lawns that offered Carlos no fences or walls that he could use to separate himself from the beast. Only small hedges that the dog leapt over like they were nothing. 

At least there didn’t appear to be an armed force lying in wait for them here-- though the dog had definitely been forcing them in this direction, which was still an unsettling thought. 

Evie and Jay gained speed on the flat ground, clearing the small hedges with no issues just like Carlos and the dog. Mal lost some speed, but she refused to let such a small injury make her fall too far behind-- leading all of her jumps over the hedges with her uninjured foot. It was her position in the back that gave her time to realize that they were definitely heading in the wrong direction though-- Jay and Evie only seemed to have eyes for Carlos, and Carlos’s head was craned to the side, staring at the castle’s walls-- no doubt looking for some way to scale it. Mal hoped he had seen a likely looking place to climb, because they were about to hit a dead end. 

“C! Up!” Mal was a little more winded than she would have normally been-- Why was she so exhausted? How had she hurt her foot?-- but that didn’t matter, her voice still carried enough for Carlos to understand the command. He craned his neck to glance behind him, looking stricken as he realized that he had been herded into a nook where the old castle transitioned into a newer looking building built with smooth concrete and enormous panes of glass.

He wasted no more time, trusting Mal’s assessment of their situation and launching himself up the older building’s wall. Fists tangled up in vines as he pulled himself up, hand over hand, until he was half up the castle and clinging securely to an architectural outcropping. 

Windows opened along the castle walls in their wake. Well-groomed, wide-eyed Auradians poking their heads out to gawk, alerted by the barking more than likely, though she couldn’t rule out her own shouts-- or worse, some official warning about Isle kids on the loose on the mainland. Though it was much brighter in their well-lit rooms than it was outside, so perhaps the gawkers had no idea who they were looking at. Not that Mal could expect their luck to hold out for very long on that front.

The dog was bouncing on the ground, still pumping its tail back and forth. Its bark was sharp-- the sort of noise that was impossible to ignore. Jay scowled back at it, putting himself between the dog and the part of wall where Carlos had climbed up. There was no way for the creature to follow at this point, but Jay wasn’t taking any chances. Evie’s eyes were glued to the backlit silhouettes in the windows-- mouth open and expression entirely disbelieving. Mal tried not to limp as she took Jay’s other side, shaking hands already digging into her satchel for any sort of weapon they could use if the beast wanted to try its luck while it was outnumbered.

She filled the air with colorful curses when she found nothing but a bound book, a sketchbook, and drawing supplies.They looked nice, pristine even-- she wondered where she could have stolen them from-- but ultimately they were useless here.

“Princess-- check your bag-- what do you have?” 

Evie scrambled to obey, tearing open her purse and looking inside. Though Mal could tell by the scowl that she didn’t have anything useful either. “Nothing-- a mirror, some makeup, some fabric squares, a few pens.” 

“I don’t have anything, Champ. Try and scare it off-- don’t let it bite you.” 

More than the small animal, Mal was now worried about the crowd of teenagers that was gathering in each open window-- and worse-- on the lawn at the mouth of the shallow nook between the two connected buildings. None of them seemed like any big threat-- pampered, clean and comfortable that they all looked-- but if there were guards or soldiers nearby they could be in real trouble.

Jay snarled and pretended to advance on the dog and it... It… tucked its tail beneath it and whimpered, sitting down on the ground as though the Arabian had hurt it without even trying. Well… At least there was that-- though it was awfully anticlimactic. Cruella had been blowing smoke up Carlos’s ass this whole time then-- or this one dog, in particular, was weak and stupid.

Back to the people then, the much bigger concern. Somehow she doubted they would fall to the ground and cower if Jay snarled at them next. Before she could start to determine a method of escaping from the crowd-- they started to part, making way for a brown-haired teenager. 

He was tall and commanding, with an athletic frame that suggested that he might not be a stranger to some sort of combat. But… Mal knew what hostility looked like. She could spot it in the way someone squared their shoulders or in the set of their mouths. She could even pick it out in the glint in someone’s eyes when they offered a smile that wasn’t the least bit genuine. And this teen’s light brown eyes were as wide and as bright as the moon above them. He look confused and worried but not the least bit aggressive. So open and guileless. Hostility and this boy were perfect strangers. 

That didn’t mean she could let her guard down though. She drew her spine straight as she fixed the boy with a sneer and stepped forward so that both she and Jay were nearly side by side. It wouldn’t do to show weakness when they literally had their backs pressed against a wall.

But nothing about her appraisal of the teen or the situation had prepared her for when he spoke.

“Mal… Why are you so… young?”

How did he know her name? And what did he mean, young? Mal’s hazel-green eyes cut to Jay and Evie, their expressions equally as confused. Before she could think of a way to respond, the boy continued, tilting his head back to look up at Carlos.

“Carlos-- could you come down here? You could get hurt if you fall.” He stepped forward but paused when the three Isle children on the ground tensed and shifted their weight. He stepped back, raising his hands in a placating gesture that set Mal’s teeth on edge behind her sneer. What was he playing at by trying to look so vulnerable and unassuming? It was clear from the way the others looked at him that he was important here. 

“Do you-- do you not remember me?

When they didn’t bother answering, the teen threaded one hand into his hair and clutched at it. He looked a little pale-- definitely speechless. Which was annoying, but at least it gave Mal more time to keep making plans while he sorted out whatever nonsense he was asking them about. Maybe it was something magical? Without the barrier over them, Mal could feel the thrum of it in her bones. _Magic!_ She kept her face impassive even as she wanted to swear and scramble to look back inside her bag-- what if that book had been a _spellbook_! Her hand inched toward her bag, motions slow and small so as to not give away her motives.

Another teen appeared from the crowd-- though she had to push her way to get to the front. Despite not seeming to carry as much status as the first boy, she also looked like someone who wasn’t to be trifled with. Dressed for the heat of summer in short sleeves, Mal warily eyed the girl’s well defined biceps. Two fighters and a dog. While the dog was a joke, the half-fae couldn’t count on Carlos to fight with it up front and center-- and these two fighters were older and larger than them. If one more showed up they’d be out matched, and if two or more did they would be outnumbered too.

Her hand stopped fidgeting with the buckle of her bag, trying to keep a cool head. There was no guarantee the book in her bag was full of spells-- and if it was, she doubted that even ‘polite, proper’ Auradians would let her thumb through it in search of something nasty to hex them with so she could get herself and the other three away from here.

She needed a different plan. 

The Auradian girl stepped forward, also frowning and concerned. Jay stepped forward in response, shoulders thrust back and fists balled at his sides-- but it never came to that. The brown-haired teen threw out an arm to block the girl’s path. 

“Lonnie-- don’t. They don’t recognize us. I don’t think they remember why they’re here either.” 

This ‘Lonnie’ didn’t look happy at the news, but she nodded and stepped back. Jay didn’t back down though-- there were even more bodies pressing into the mouth of the dead end and faces appearing in the windows. There was no way they would be able to fight their way out now. Even if all of the assembled were useless in a fight, the thick crowd of them would slow the four down too much.

The lack of de-escalation on Jay’s part seemed to distress the two Auradians further. Though the boy seemed to divine the reason why quickly enough at least. He turned his back to the four-- Stupid! Jay could clear the distance between them in seconds, if the Arabian had a knife the teenager would be on the ground now. Differences in their size or builds be damned-- and addressed the crowd of older kids. 

“Everyone please return to your dorms for the rest of this evening! Everything is going to be fine, we have this under control.” 

Jay blinked, muscles going slack-- out of surprise, there was no way he was relaxed-- as, after only a few seconds of unhappy murmuring in the crowd, all of the teenagers obeyed. Whoever this boy was… he was very important. Obeyed without question. And he hadn’t even threatened anyone. Even the faces in the windows were disappearing, slower than the crowd outside-- and they were no doubt still watching through the slats of their shutters-- but it was the appearance of obedience at least. 

But he wasn’t done, apparently.

“Doug and Jane-- could you stay please.” He rested a hand on Lonnie’s arm as well. 

Mal and Jay tensed again, Evie only a half second behind them. Four were staying. Two more fighters--? But before the four had a chance to get too worked up, Doug and Jane appeared. They worked their way opposite of the crowd until they stood just a few paces behind Lonnie and the first Auradian speaker. 

They were _not_ fighters, this Doug and Jane. There was a sharp intelligence to Doug, not unlike Carlos, but he didn’t have the look of someone who could hold his own in a brawl. A bit mousey in a way that suggested he was probably a scholar. Jane was more their size, though still probably a bit older than them, but petite and similarly unfit for combat. She seemed more like a schemer-- a planner-- with the sharp eyes of someone who often went unnoticed in a crowd. She could see why someone in command would desire those talents-- but they wouldn’t be her first pick when preparing for a fight…

Maybe the speaker didn’t intend for a fight then… Or did it mean that he didn’t think he needed more than himself and Lonnie to take them down? Mal’s cheek twitched as she forced herself not to scowl. Turning his back on them, not calling for at least two more fighters to stay… He was underestimating their strength. It chafed, but it was probably the best thing for them now.

Mal stepped forward, putting herself between Jay, Evie and the Auradian speaker. She made a show of buckling her bag and sliding it behind her so she could quickly signal her friends to prepare for a hasty exit. That done-- she put her hands on her hips and raised a brow at the brown-haired teen. 

“As interesting as this all is, really, I’m so entertained-- who the fuck are you and what the hell are you going on about?” 

This seemed to catch the brown-haired boy off guard. After a moment pause, he placed his hand on his heart and bowed. “My name is Ben. You four are students here-- have been for almost an entire school year.” 

Evie giggled and Jay laughed. Mal let out a short, sharp bark of laughter that revealed more contempt than any amusement. “Someone needs to teach you Auradians how to lie _Ben_. You should always start with something that will be believed.”

“I’m not lying-- and Carlos can you please come down, I’m really afraid you’ll fall and hurt yourself.” Ben looked bewildered at their reactions, it was kind of cute, in a dopey ‘easy mark’ sort of way.

He was getting frazzled by Carlos being up so high which meant there was absolutely no way Carlos should come down, even if the dog was gone. It would help keep him on edge and lead him to make mistakes if it divided his focus up enough. 

But she could work this in their favor regardless.

More deliberately she pressed closer-- Evie and Jay readied themselves to leap forward and into a fight, just like she knew they would. Ben’s group shifted nervously, but Ben threw out his arm again, and motioned for them to get back a little. Mal’s eyes glittered with satisfaction. While they were underestimating them by failing to even the odds, they also clearly valued resolving the situation without a fight more than anything else. Reading people hadn’t ever been this easy before.

Now they had more space to work with for their escape.

“He’s got the right idea being up there. With this vicious little beast right here.” Mal raised her hand and pointed accusingly at the dog that still laid down pathetically whimpering between them. 

The Auradians looked taken aback. Ben more-so than the rest.

“You also were--are afraid of dogs? I thought it was only Carlos... Dude isn’t a threat, I promise! He’s very sweet and gentle.” Ben smiled, in what was probably meant to be a reassuring manner, his head tilted up so he could look at Carlos. “The first time you met him you ran up a tree, but you came down and held him and realized that he wouldn’t hurt you.” 

Ben leaned forward, picking up the whimpering dog and cradling him in his arms. A scratch behind the ear got him to stop whimpering and another under the neck started his tail to pumping from side to side again. 

Mal sneered. “We’re not afraid of anything _Ben_ , and you’d do well to never forget that.” 

Ben looked… inexplicably fond at her words. She felt off-balance at the foreign expression. “Could you all please come inside, so we can figure this out? Somehow a spell must have gone awry. I promise that you all are safe here.” 

Mal stepped forward, fists balled at her sides and hair on the back of her neck standing on edge as she did so. She would be faster than these pampered Auradians, but every nerve in her body rejected stepping closer to them and into striking range. Despite that, her voice was steady as she addressed the teen holding the dog. “There’s no such thing as safe, Ben.”

And with that, she darted towards the vines that Ben’s group had stepped away from when she had pushed up to insult the dog. She could hear Evie scrambling up the vines Carlos had used earlier and Jay making his way up the sturdier window ledges directly across from Mal’s vines, even without turning to look. 

Carlos’s warning rang out sharp over the sounds of surprise from the Auradians. “Watch out Jay!”

Mal turned just in time to see Jay kick the hand of the fighter-- Lonnie, away from his leg. She was fast, but Jay was out of reach already. They all were. Mal continued to heave herself up until she hit the rooftop. Jay began inching his way towards Carlos and Evie-- his portion of the building had no easy way to haul himself up to the roof, but making it to the back wall would solve that problem.

Ben’s voice rang out clear but he wasn’t shouting. He was pleading. “Please, Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos-- I know you’re all very cautious but you need to come with me! I have no idea what happened to you and even though you can take care of yourself you shouldn’t have to-- please, please let me help!”

Mal hesitated, it felt safer to do so now-- since they were out of reach and back together. These Auradians were so easy to read… and they really didn’t seem like they wanted to hurt them. People who pretended to be nice in order to lure people in closer had never been even half as compelling as this boy. Maybe it would be okay to listen to what he had to say... 

Luckily Evie brought her to her senses quickly enough by shouting out another warning to Jay. One of the window shutters opened outward, nearly sending him spiraling off the side of the building and three stories down. The blonde teen who had thrown the window open was attempting to grab Jay and drag him inside. The four on the ground shouted for their classmate to stop, but it didn’t matter. Jay had it under control. He threw his elbow into the blonde teen’s face and freed himself after only a small tussle. 

Mal steeled herself. It didn’t matter if these four genuinely thought they wouldn’t get hurt. They were only teenagers. Some of their classmates would feel differently. And their parents would be a whole different story altogether.

Evie and Carlos reached Jay and helped him up to the rooftop. ‘Chad’ (if the four yelling at him were to be believed) was groaning and clutching his nose on the floor of his room. Not exactly out of commission, but he didn’t look like a likely threat anymore either. Mal ignored Ben’s more frantic impassioned pleas as she shifted around the U-shape of the rooftop to stand side by side with the other three. 

“Let's all go to the the farthest side from here and get back into the woods, we’ll stick out too much if we try and go into town-- we’ll worry about supplies after we lose them.” She kept her voice low, using small shadowed motions to point in the direction she wanted them to traverse. The other three nodded before they all set off in the proper direction. If they had been on the Isle-- in the Marketplace, they would have split up. Each going their own squirrely way and forcing whoever was chasing them to break up and follow them on their terms.

But this was not the Isle-- there were no familiar paths to rely on or hideouts to meet up at, not to mention they were being pursued by four people who could split up just as easily as they could. Numbers were their only advantage right now, and it was an advantage that could easily disappear, just like it almost had with Chad at the window.

She could hear the Auradians as they followed her silhouette over the moonlit roof. Carlos, Evie and Jay were on the opposite side of the peak of the roof, but Mal wanted to keep her eyes on the teenagers up until the last possible moment-- opting to run along the pointed top of the roof instead.

The dog was barking loudly again, sharp and piercing. Mal’s eyes darted to Carlos-- but the smaller boy was thankfully fully focused on the path he was talking across the slanted roofs. Jay and Evie were similarly focused-- Mal tried to keep her mind and eyes on her footing, but her brain was already trying to draft up the next part of their escape. 

They would lose time scaling back down the building, so it was crucial that the Auradians lost sight of them for long enough that they could get down and into the woods unimpeded-- but Ben, Lonnie and ‘Dude’ were keeping pace with them. Doug and Jane were gone, she noted-- a growing sense of dread blooming in the pit of her stomach. Had they gone to get more reinforcements? It didn’t matter-- they just needed to be faster if that was the case. Mal pushed herself to go faster, to think harder, to be _better_. 

But past getting into the forest she found herself at a complete loss. How had they gotten to the mainland? What were they doing here? Had anything that the brown-haired teen said been true? The fact that none of them had weapons on them was almost as terrifying as the rest of this ordeal. They were never without _something_. But Jay hadn’t drawn a knife on the dog or stabbed Ben when he turned his back to them. Carlos hadn’t thrown down anything to help with the dog and she and Evie had already checked their bags. 

They were nearing the thickest part of the castle-- where the roof split into two separate wings. The Auradians would lose a lot of time running around the perimeter of the building. This was their chance! Mal grinned as she transitioned to the side of the roof that was out of sight of their pursuers. 

Distracted as she was with watching the other three’s progress in front of her-- with considering the words of the strangely comforting Ben-- with the worry about the possible reinforcements behind them-- with thinking about the future (what could they do?)-- and the past (how had they gotten here?)-- Mal wasn’t paying as much attention as she should to her hurried dash across the roof.

The pain that lanced up her leg when she lead a particularly long jump with her injured foot was jarring, knocking the breath out of her lungs for a moment as she fought to regain her balance. She tried desperately to pitch herself to the side that would leave her landing on the roof-- but instead she started to slide off, fingers hooked in a desperate attempt to catch herself on the shingles. 

“Mal!”

“Boss!”

“M!”

Mal tried to ready herself for the three-story fall as she made eye contact with the others and disappeared over the edge of the roof.

She kept her jaw tight, teeth apart, and her tongue at the top of her mouth. The half-fae had no desire to break her jaw or teeth or bite off her tongue when she landed. Mal kept the hysterical noises trapped in her throat during her fall. It felt like it went on forever as she tried to slow herself by clutching at the vines watching with mounting panic as she caught on them and then ripped them from the side of the building.

She landed in a roll, previously injured foot roaring with a fresh and sharper pain as she knew _immediately_ that she had not slowed her momentum down enough for impact. She cut back on what she could, however, pitching her scratched and bleeding hands forward and tucking her head down as she allowed the momentum to keep her rolling forward. She only managed one roll though, landing flat on her back with the breath knocked out of her when she couldn’t make her injured foot cooperate in time to set her up for another one. Her vision swam as she fought to keep her eyes open through the pain. It probably wasn’t shattered-- but it definitely wasn’t something she could walk on. 

Evie, Carlos, and Jay scrambled down the side of the building after her, and while part of her wanted to scream at them for not continuing on-- a more selfish part of her was glad that she hadn’t been left behind as dead weight.

Their voices felt very far away-- like there was cotton jammed in her ears. She gritted her teeth to keep back whimpers of pain and other pathetic noises. But despite her best efforts to stay quiet and alert, Mal found that she was quickly losing that battle. She was exhausted. It was as if she had been running on pure adrenaline since she woke up and now was struggling with the imminent crash. The half-fae railed against her weakness angrily. She could see the exhaustion in the other three as well. 

For all the angry self-reproach Mal could summon to brace herself, the moment that Jay hoisted her onto his back she couldn’t manage to choke back a scream of pain as her leg slapped against his side and then dangled at an unnatural angle. She felt Carlos’s fingers slip over her mouth to muffle the noise while Evie’s sure hands tied Mal’s leg to Jay’s side with someone’s jacket.

Mal’s head lolled on it’s side after Carlos released her as she tried to look around, biting back whimpers of pain as her leg was jostled. Faintly she could hear the others speaking, but the feeling of cotton in her ears hadn’t subsided so she couldn’t make out their exact words. 

Jay was even better about stealth than she was. He would keep them safe till they could find the means to fix her up. He always did. She could count on him. Her hazy thoughts were interrupted by a piece of fabric being stuffed between her teeth. Her head swam as she realized that she hadn’t been stifling her noises properly. Fuck.

They needed silence to make up for her shortcomings, so she would give it to them. Mal stopped fighting to stay awake, tucking her head into Jay’s back and closing her eyes. Slipping into feverish dreams about kind light-brown eyes and a gentle voice.


	3. secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't read the novels, so all of the characters from them are probably not going to be super accurate to their portrayals in them, as a heads up! I'm just kind of using my knowledge of each kid's parents to shape how I think they'd turn out on a darker-than-Disney Isle.

Ben had known something was wrong the moment the four hadn’t returned back to campus in time for dinner. They _never_ skipped dinner. None of the Isles kids ever did. Even on the days the eyes and whispers following them were at their most invasive. Still, he had hoped he was being paranoid. Just because he hadn’t seen them in the dining hall didn’t mean something bad had happened. He couldn’t rule out them having raided kitchens before returning to one of their rooms. 

Despite the fact that he kept fervently telling himself that nothing was wrong, Ben asked Jane to check the dorm kitchens and Doug to check with the cafeteria chefs before dinner was even half over. Just in case. He and Lonnie went in the direction of the dorm rooms. While he would knock on Jay and Carlos’s room, Lonnie would check Mal and Evie’s. Just in case. But a seed of panic was sitting heavy in his empty stomach.

He prided himself on not going into any of the four’s rooms without their permission outside of emergencies-- but he only managed a handful of urgent knocks before he gave in and opened the door with his master key. He would apologize if they were there and leave immediately. He just needed to know that he was overreacting. 

But there was no one to apologize to in Jay and Carlos’s empty room. 

He hesitated for a moment before stepping inside. Nothing looked out of place-- there was no note on the bed to explain where they had run off to. He couldn’t bring himself to go through their belongings though. It was bad enough he had come in without asking. 

Lonnie caught him as he was relocking the room, her expression also troubled.

“They’re not there-- or if they are they’re not answering me. And I told them that we were just worried that they were missing dinner and that they didn’t need to come down. --That I’d bring them something so they could stay in the room.” Lonnie wrapped her arms around her front, hugging herself as she chewed on her bottom lip. “But I don’t think they’re in there Ben.” 

Ben shook his head. “I don’t think so either… I’m going to check the tourney fields-- can you go to the security booth and see if they signed out to go into town?” Lonnie nodded and took off at a run for the stairs.

It had taken Ben basically ordering Fairy Godmother to get the four permission to wander around town. He understood why she was concerned about them being in public unsupervised, but Ben had realized fast that it was much better to concede ground to the four on matters of physical freedom. If they were told no-- they would just do it anyways. At least this way they usually signed out with the security guard if they were leaving campus. And they knew-- or at least he hoped they did-- that if he requested something from them, or denied them something that it was because it was actually important.

The tourney fields were frustratingly empty as well, though he called out to the four regardless. He cursed himself for stepping over the line today. The four were like cats. They would come to you when they wanted-- but he had been worried about them. Finals and the upcoming holidays were visibly weighing on them. He had just meant to assure them that he would be there for them. It wasn’t until the beginning of dinner when Lonnie, Doug, and Jane had admitted to doing the same that he realized how stifling they must have come across. Ben turned back towards the school, shoulders slumped. Perhaps Jane or Doug had found them. Or Lonnie would report that they had signed to go off campus. 

His mind turned to the upcoming summer break as he began walking back toward the dorm hall. They were anxious about spending all that time at the castle-- he could see it in their eyes, no matter how well they tried to hide it. Though he might have not known what to look for if he hadn’t been quietly informed about their treatment during the holiday parties during winter break. His nails bit crescents into his palms at the thought. He didn’t struggle with the Beast as much as he had as a young boy, but the picture Mrs. Potts had painted when she described how his other guests had treated his four friends when they had been out of his sight made his blood boil. 

Ben sighed, releasing the tension in his fists and rubbing his palms on the sides of his pants. But they hadn’t wanted him to know, had only made flippant remarks about the decor and complimented the food when he asked how the parties had gone for them. They had redirected every conversation when he asked specifically about people they might have spoken to. So he had respected their desire to ignore it. 

There were many many times that the young King felt like he made mistakes, and it was only just under a year into his reign. Not bringing the four over, nor any of the other careful waves of Isle youth that had been ferried over to Auradon in the past few months. But this definitely felt like one of those times. He had thought that because summer would see all of the Isle kids spending their break in the palace-- combined with the fewer amount of state events-- that the four wouldn’t feel so out of place. But now he wasn’t so sure. 

The sound of a dog barking drew him out of his introspective thoughts with a start. Dude! And where there was Dude, there was Carlos! He smiled, sweet relief washing over him before he realized that the barking was… not stopping. Ben started jogging towards the noise, keen eyes confused to see his four friends dashing across the field and towards the alcove between the dorms and the new wing of the school that housed the classrooms. They were running so fast they were basically just streaks of color in the pale light of the full moon, but there was no mistaking the distinctive blend of Isle and Auradian fashion that Evie had become known for creating. 

He picked up his pace, calling out for Mal-- but he was too far away, she didn’t turn towards him. It had been a long shot, and they were running towards the school so he wasn’t too worried-- but it was hard not to be a little nervous when they were sprinting full tilt like they were.

His nerves were not the slightest bit soothed when he made it to the place the four had been running, only to be faced with the back of a sizable crowd of gawkers. Dinner had just gotten out, so a majority of the students were there. What on earth was happening to cause this much of a scene? 

It only took a quiet ‘excuse me’, for the students to start parting in front of him. Each student knocked an elbow into their neighbor until he had a clear path to the front of the crowd. He could feel them closing in behind him, which he did not like-- no doubt the four felt caged in like this, but he would deal with that in a moment.

But all of his worryings couldn’t have prepared him for the sight before him when he finally found himself facing his four friends.

He blinked, mouth flapping open as he tried to push a coherent sentence past his confusion. 

“Mal… Why are you so… young?”

It wasn’t the most eloquent he’d ever been, but it did get to the heart of the matter quickly enough. They couldn’t be a day over ten-- with baby fat still on their cheeks and their limbs so much shorter. Their clothes were smaller versions of the same outfits he had seen them wearing earlier that day. But there was no mistaking them. Jay’s intense dark eyes, Mal and Evie’s vibrant hair. 

Ben looked around the front of the crowd for a moment, confused by the absence of Carlos. He had seen him leading the charge… so where was he? He looked over to Dude, following the dog’s upward head tilt and felt faint when he spotted the small-- so very small-- Carlos sitting on a ledge some thirty feet above them. 

“Carlos-- could you come down here? You could get hurt if you fall.” Concerned about the potential damage such a fall could cause Carlos, he didn’t notice their reaction to his approach until he had taken a few steps forward. His eyes immediately shot back down to the three younger-versions of his friends on the ground.

Calmly he stepped back, raising his hands to show that he was unarmed and meant them no harm. It didn’t seem to put them at ease, but no change was better than bad change, right?

“Do you-- do you not remember me? 

The four were silent for a long moment, confirming his suspicions. He felt faint, grabbing his hair in one hand to keep the traitorous limb from shaking. This was terrible-- they had no idea why they were in Auradon, they had no memories of him or any reason to trust him. They were probably terrified--

His thoughts were interrupted by Lonnie shoving her way through the crowd at his back. Ben could see the recognition dawning in the Chinese girl’s eyes as she stepped forward, frowning and concerned-- one hand reached out as though to comfort the much smaller version of their friends. He didn’t blame her-- the more he looked, the more he was convinced that he was off in his initial estimate. They weren’t older than ten-- he was certain, but they were probably even a few years younger than that.

But they didn’t see it as comfort. To them, Lonnie was a threat. He was a threat. They hadn’t proven themselves as allies let alone friends in these young children’s eyes. He threw an arm out to block Lonnie’s approach, keeping his voice low and calm even as he spoke quickly.

“Lonnie-- don’t. They don’t recognize us. I don’t think they remember why they’re here either.”

Despite the fact that Lonnie was quick to step away, Jay didn’t relax from his position at the front of the pack. It didn’t take long for Ben to realize why-- he had known it was an issue the moment he had walked up, hadn’t he? They felt boxed in-- and if that was bad for them at sixteen, he couldn’t imagine how it would feel at eight or nine. 

He turned to the assembled students and raised both of his hands to gather their attention to himself.

“Everyone please return to your dorms for the rest of this evening! Everything is going to be fine, we have this under control.” 

Ben was not a fan of ordering around his classmates, even if he had been their King for nearly a year. Being a leader was more about making sure his decrees were well researched and thinking through all of their ramifications than it was about issuing commands. But he was grateful when they all obeyed him relatively quickly. He spotted a familiar set of faces in the back of the crowd and brightened. 

“Doug and Jane-- could you stay please.” Ben reached out to gently place his hand on Lonnie’s arm as well, indicating he would like her to stay too. That would be much better. Just the four’s friends and himself, much less overwhelming.

Though when he turned he could tell that despite the lack of the crowd, things were far from relaxed between the eight of them. Perhaps four was still too many people? He didn’t want them to feel threatened-- but they looked like they would sprint away given an opening, and he could not give them that chance.

Despite looking uncomfortable and cagey, Mal stepped forward. Ben wasn’t surprised when she made sure that she obstructed their view of Jay and Evie. She had always been protective of them, he wouldn’t expect any less from her, even as a child. She looked sort of ridiculous though, so tiny and adorable with her hands on her hips and her eyes like emerald fire above rosy full cheeks. 

A baby spitting viper. 

“As interesting as this all is, really, I’m so entertained-- who the fuck are you and what the hell are you going on about?” 

Ben winced a little at the language. He should be used to it by now-- the four delighted in cursing around him whenever they were alone-- because he wouldn’t ask them to stop if it was just the five of them in private and they loved seeing how flustered it made him-- but hearing the profanity from someone so tiny and young was jarring. 

But this was more important than some off-color language. After a moment deliberation, he placed his hand on his heart and bowed. 

“My name is Ben. You four are students here-- have been for almost an entire school year.” It wouldn’t do now to give them his title. It was already bad enough that he was some random Auradian who they had no reason to trust. These children wouldn’t know about his proclamation or his--

His thoughts were interrupted by various laughs from the three children who faced him on the ground. Though Mal’s was a lot meaner than Jay’s or Evie’s. “Someone needs to teach you Auradians how to lie _Ben_. You should always start with something that will be believed.”

Or-- they could just think he was lying about his title like they had thought he was lying about their status as students at Auradon Prep. He tried not to let his shoulders sag at the thought of trying to convince four children, that had never had someone look out for them a day in their life, that he genuinely wanted to keep them safe.

“I’m not lying-- and Carlos can you please come down, I’m really afraid you’ll fall and hurt yourself.” Carlos ignored him silently, wide brown eyes staring down at him owlishly from two stories up. 

Smirking, Mal stepped even closer. Evie and Jay tensed behind her as if preparing for a fight. Ben stepped back, his arms out to force the others to step back with him. But even as he did so he realized that it might not have been the best choice. This child-Mal was testing his boundaries, was scheming more than likely. He didn’t want them to feel scared, but giving them too much power in this situation probably wouldn’t be the best call either. 

But before he could figure out how to swing the balance back in his favor, Mal spoke again.

“He’s got the right idea being up there. With this vicious little beast right here.” Tiny-Mal raised her hand and pointed accusingly Dude-- who was still sitting quietly between the two groups, looking up at Carlos and whining sadly. 

The King blinked, looking up at Carlos and then down at the other three. Had they all been afraid of dogs? It didn’t make sense for them to admit that now and not when they were older-- if that was the case. Or maybe she was deflecting so that he and his group wouldn’t know that it was only Carlos who was afraid of them?

He could put more weight behind his claims that they were students then-- by revealing he already knew about Carlos’s phobia. “You also were--are afraid of dogs? I thought it was only Carlos... Dude isn’t a threat, I promise! He’s very sweet and gentle.” Ben smiled, tilting his head up to try and make eye contact with Carlos. “The first time you met him you ran up a tree, but you came down and held him and realized that he wouldn’t hurt you.” 

He leaned forward, picking up Dude carefully and giving him a few scratches to soothe his whimperings. The dog didn’t look injured and didn’t snap at him as he gently prodded his legs and torso. In fact, Dude’s tail started wagging happily at the attention-- so it was probably safe to assume he was uninjured. A small mercy. Ben couldn’t imagine that Dude would have lived long if Mal, Jay or Evie really were scared of him hurting Carlos. He had to remember that despite how tiny they looked, they had survived for years on an island full of monsters and nightmares. 

“We’re not afraid of anything _Ben_ , and you’d do well to never forget that.” Mal’s sneer was smaller and clumsier than it would be at sixteen, but he could see the ghost of what it would become when she grew up. His heart ached for his four friends, they were so _small_ \-- even smaller than young Dizzy Tremaine. Feeling protective of them wasn’t a foreign feeling for him, but the intensity of the urge in the face of them as small children was a little mind-blowing.

“Could you all please come inside, so we can figure this out? Somehow a spell must have gone awry. I promise that you all are safe here.” 

Mal stepped forward towards him, fists balled at her sides. Ben kept himself still, refusing to step back but also making no move to reach out to her. He wasn’t a threat-- if he could only get them to believe him! But despite his best efforts, there was a soft tremor of fear in her voice as she addressed him. 

“There’s no such thing as safe, Ben.”

The alcove was a riot of motion as first Mal, and then Jay and Evie immediately dove towards the walls and started to clamber up. He nearly dropped Dude in alarm-- as it was, he was scrambling to put the dog down on the ground and reach up for them. Despite the fact that probably wasn’t the best move, in hindsight. Not that it mattered, even Lonnie-- the fastest among them, didn’t manage to do more than brush against Jay’s leg. And she earned a kick for her efforts.

Ben watched, heart in his throat as the three scrambled up to the rooftop. None of them fell-- which made him want to sag with relief, but there was no time to relax.

“Please, Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos-- I know you’re all very cautious but you need to come with me! I have no idea what happened to you and even though you can take care of yourself you shouldn’t have to-- please, please let me help!”

They were all hesitating, his heart ached more at the sight of their familiar faces filled with such distrust, though also-- if he wasn’t projecting-- maybe even some small flicker of curiosity? Perhaps he could tip the scales with food? Or offering some middle ground of questioning them about what they could remember somewhere where they wouldn’t feel trapped? Or showing them their rooms? But before he could decide on a plan of action the window behind Jay was swinging open, nearly knocking the young Arabian boy from the third story as Chad attempted to grab Jay and drag him inside.

He and Lonnie yelled at Chad to stop, to let Jay go-- there was no way this was helping! Jane and Doug took a more active approach-- it wasn’t safe to catch a full grown adult from that big of a drop, but perhaps with a small child?-- they were beneath him, eyes full of panic as they blindly thrust their arms into the air in the hopes that they could catch him if he fell.

Luckily it didn’t come to that-- Ben didn’t wince at the sight of the elbow crashing into the side of Chad’s nose. He knew he’d never been so happy to see someone get their nose broken in his entire life. Again he wished to collapse in a heap of relief when the four were safely on the rooftop, but he couldn’t.

They paused for only a moment before they were running along the roof away from the alcove. The four Auradians sprinted off parallel to them on the ground only a second behind them. 

“Jane-- go get your mother! Tell her we need her help for a magical emergency!” Jane peeled away from the group, shooting towards the administrative building with a speed that Ben hadn’t realized she was capable of. He then turned his head for a moment to make sure that Doug was also within earshot before returning his gaze to the silhouette of Mal on the roof. “Doug, go find… Freddie? Or Dizzy-- someone from Mal’s crew back on the Isle-- someone who would have known her at seven or so?”

Doug grunted an acknowledgment before he too fell away from the pack, leaving only Lonnie, Dude and himself to continue the chase.

“So how on earth are we going to convince them to listen to us?”

Ben normally considered himself pretty good at thinking on his feet, but he knew he was barely keeping it together right now. He was always just a little too slow when it came to Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay. A little too clumsy, always just a bit off from what they needed him to be. That feeling was magnified now as he struggled to come up with some way to respond to Lonnie that didn’t make their situation sound hopeless.

“We’ve just got to hit them with indisputable facts. Fr--Allies from the Isle really are going to be our best bet I think-- not just to convince them we aren’t lying, but also to help us figure out how we should proceed.” 

The beginnings of a headache throbbed in the young King’s temples, even as his eyes stayed trained on Mal’s silhouette on the roof.

“Right now, we have to assume they’re trying to get to someplace they can hide-- probably the forest? I saw them running out of it right before this-- whole mess.”

Lonnie nodded, dark brown eyes darting from Mal’s silhouette to the side of the school building and back again. When Mal disappeared over the crest of the roof, the other girl was grabbing Ben’s arm before he could start to panic.

“Let’s go through-- we’ll lose too much time going all the way around, that’s probably what they’re counting on.” Lonnie tried to slide open a few of the windows, knocking on them as they wouldn’t budge. Ben stumbled over himself in his haste to copy her. 

It only took a few windows before the face of a very confused maidservant peered through the curtains and opened the window at the sight of the King. 

“Your majesty--?” 

Lonnie, not beholden to as many worries about diplomacy or tact, didn’t bother to wait for Ben to answer her. Slipping her way through the window as soon as it was swung open and sprinting towards the door to the hall as quickly as she could. Ben only managed a handful of half-explanations himself before he followed her. He didn’t have time for more than that-- and he had managed the most important bit conveyed.

“You’re not in danger, just a personal emergency, sorry--excuse us!” 

It wasn’t exactly right, but at least the poor woman wouldn’t think there were attackers laying waste to the campus-- or some natural disaster. Ben spun in the hallway, looking for Lonnie and spotting her shooting out of a different room on the opposite side of the hall. 

“No windows!”

Thus began a comedy of errors as the pair threw open the door to each room on the opposite side of the hall, looking for windows to the outside. --Leaving dozens of startled servants in their wake. 

Their luck finally pulled through when they found a narrow passageway outside from off the laundry suite. Though it didn’t _feel_ like luck when the first sound they were greeted with upon making their way outside was the panicked yells of Evie, Carlos and Jay.

“Mal!”

“Boss!”

“M!”

Ben reeled, feeling faint. What had happened to Mal? No matter where he looked, he couldn’t see the three along this side of the roof-- but they had sounded close, the other side of this same wing then? But his body wouldn’t move-- inside and through would be faster, but the sounds of his friends-- as _children_ \-- yelling and afraid was too foreign to process. 

Lonnie pushed him forward. “Go Ben, GO! I’ll try and go to the other side-- it’ll be faster if we split up!” He stumbled forward before he got his legs back under him properly. Lonnie was already back inside and out of sight before he managed to start sprinting fully. She was quick on her feet too, even in a crisis. To be expected from the Military genius of the Li family, he thought-- though it was a distant one. The only thing he was really focusing on now was listening hard, trying to pick up any more sounds from the four.

He heard Mal’s quick shout of pain and was torn between dread and relief. It sounded further away-- like, not-on-the-roof further away. Mal had more than likely fallen, which was horrifying-- but if she was yelling that was a good sign right? That she was still awake? 

He pressed himself to run faster, mind a hectic mess of contingency plans with veins of panicked static between them. It seemed unlikely that the four would turn to him, to any of them if Mal was injured-- the four had to be dragged to the nurse if any of them were feeling sick, even _now_. And that dragging only happened if they weren’t successful in hiding it from him or the others. So, with no reason to trust him, he couldn’t imagine there was any way they would willingly let any Auradian see them this vulnerable. 

Ben rounded the corner and stumbled when he spotted Lonnie kneeling about halfway down the length of the wing. If he had been asked, he would have said that he had already been running as quickly as he could-- but with a goal in sight, it felt like he had barely breathed before he was level with Lonnie.

Blood was splashed across the dirt and grass-- not too much-- but enough to make him feel faint regardless. Lonnie looked up at him, face a scowl of frustration that would have looked furious if not for the wetness in her eyes.

“I have no idea where they went Ben-- they were already gone by the time I found this.”  
Ben swallowed his own rising fears as he hauled Lonnie up and squeezed her bicep reassuringly. “They always look out for each other Lonnie-- I heard her cry out, she’s not-- she’s hurt, but she’ll be okay. We’ll find them.” She looked like she believed him, which helped him believe it too.

“As touchin’ as this is. Ya should hurry an’ find them. Now.” The pair of Auradians whirled at the sound of Harry Hook’s voice. Harry and Uma were already out of a nearby open window and Gil wasn’t far behind. Doug leaned out the next window, knuckles white around its frame with his eyes locked on the smear of blood on the ground.

“Doug?” Ben’s frazzled eyes darted between the three and then back to Doug, not knowing exactly how to delicately phrase the unspoken question he left hanging in the air-- Mal and Uma hadn’t fought since the very first day that Uma had been brought over from the Isle, but it was no secret that the two were not close in the slightest. 

“They said they could help. I couldn’t find Dizzy or Freddie.” 

“Dizzy would have been a toddler when these four were younger than ten. And Freddie didn’t run with them until-- we were all about twelve.” Uma threw her head back to brush her braids out of her way and over her shoulder, expression closed off as she eyed the blood. Her boots made soft thuds in the turf as she walked over to get a closer look at it.

Gil looked uncharacteristically worried at the sight of the blood as well. It was incredibly alarming when juxtaposed against the mild expressions that Uma and Harry were careful to hide their thoughts behind. 

“Did any of them have a weapon?” Despite Uma’s composed expression, her tone was sharp with an undercurrent of urgency.

Ben shook his head, but before he could open his mouth to explain why he was sure, Harry was stepping closer, eyes intense as they met his. “An’ yer certain of that?” Ben nodded, voice lost in his throat at the unfamiliar expression on the normally belligerently sarcastic teenager’s face.

Uma reached for Harry’s arm, pulling her first mate back towards the building and breaking the tension that had Ben struck silent. “Then they’re trying to find a weapon, and you need to make sure they don’t get their hands on one. The kitchen?” Harry nodded and before any of the Auradians could manage one word, the Sea Three were running in the direction of the kitchens.

Their urgency spurred the other three on, even Doug was keeping pace with Ben and Lonnie-- after scrambling out of the window. 

“Why do we have to stop them from getting a weapon? You don’t think they’ll hurt anyone, do you? No one is going to try and touch them-- let alone hurt them!” Ben had to push himself to catch up enough to Uma and Harry, his words coming out between heavy breaths. Gil was yards ahead of them, silent and serious.

The captain and her first mate had expressions that were carefully blank, giving away nothing-- but in a way that made cold shivers run down the young King’s spine. 

“What aren’t you two telling me?” They continued to say nothing, only pressed faster until Ben could spare no more air for words.

He shouldn’t have been surprised that the Sea Three knew the quickest path to the kitchen possible. Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos had surprised him many times by appearing in the kitchens or dining hall from halfway across campus in nearly a blink when they had first arrived. He’d been impressed at first, though that had faded the longer and harder he thought about the way the Isle’s children behaved around food.

They all poured into the kitchen only to deflate when it was empty of the four they sought. Though Ben, Lonnie and Doug were relieved to see Dizzy and Freddie were there. 

“Dizzy, Freddie! Mal and the others, they’re small-- I mean, they’re young! They don’t remember coming to Auradon or anything about us! We need your help!” Ben was infinitely grateful that Doug was able to sum up the chaos of the evening so succinctly-- perhaps he had practiced how to convey the information quickly on his search for them before?-- either way, his words saw Dizzy and Freddie flying to their feet. 

Ben tried not to think about the fact that he could see the four’s favorite foods laid out in various stages of completion on the kitchen counter.

Dizzy canted her head to one side, shooting a confused glance at the stoic and silent Sea Three before turning her attention back to the Auradians. “So-- they’ve probably fled into the woods? I feel like they’d try to hide from you guys in there, no offense. I mean I know some of the _other_ kids say we’re obsessed with food… but if they don’t remember anything about here, they wouldn’t know the way to the kitchen right off.” The younger girl looked a little embarrassed at the mention of ‘food obsession’, hands twisting in front of her. 

Ben shook his head even as Freddie was nodding her agreement. “No-- Uma and Harry, they said they’d be looking for weapons so we should check the kitchen. Mal got hurt falling off the roof while they were running from us. But I don’t--,” Anything else he was going to say was interrupted by Dizzy going very pale and almost collapsing against the counter. Even Freddie looked ashen and shocked, eyes wide. 

Ben wanted to be conscientious about the Isles secrets-- to not press or pry before anyone was ready or willing to share-- but there was something going on here that was vital right now. Some unspoken threat that loomed over the Isle’s children that he was _missing_.

“How hurt?” The portion of Freddie’s face that was under her bangs swam with shadows. But she wasn’t addressing any of the Auradians. The menace of her shadowed gaze was focused on Uma and Harry. The pair stayed silent, turning their heads away.

Gil did not share in their reservation however, “Badly-- quite a bit of blood. And it’s probably something like a broken limb.”

At his words, Dizzy flung herself out of the kitchen. She brushed past Lonnie and Doug in a carelessly rude way that was just as strange and foreign from her as Uma, Harry and Gil’s stoic seriousness of the past few minutes had been from them. She was screaming before the door finished thudding shut behind her.

“Evie! Jay! Carlos! Don’t do it! Don’t do it, please!”

Freddie wasn’t far behind her, though the conjurer stopped in the doorway to turn back and address the Sea Three. The shadows licking at her upper face beneath her bangs were even more intense. “If she dies, I will hold you personally responsible for the delay your reticence caused.” And with that she too was gone out the door, yelling for the four as well.

Doug fell to the floor when he failed to catch himself on the counter while Lonnie looked pale and faint with fear. Ben whirled towards Uma, struggling with the Beast as he advanced on her. His hands were shaking but despite his anger, they were open and face up-- not balled into fists or curled into claws. There was more fear than rage in his voice when he spoke.

“What do they mean, Uma tell me _now_!”

Harry stepped forward as though to put himself between his captain and the King, but Gil beat him there. Gil’s big hands were gentle as they turned Ben towards him and away from Uma’s guarded expression.

“It’s not their fault-- please, none of them that’s done it wanted to talk about it-- you people already look at us like--,” Gil shook his head, though it was more of a full body shake-- and with how he had his hands wrapped around Ben’s biceps, he shook him too. “What I mean is Ben-- on the Isle, no one dies.” 

At the blank looks of confusion, he shook Ben in frustration and tried again.

“No one dies because they can’t die, no one can die on the Isle. The barrier won’t let us.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? I don’t understand what that has to do with Mal d-dying!” Thankfully Lonnie had found her tongue, because Ben still hadn’t any idea where his had gone.

Harry’s laugh was bitter. “Aye, a great thing tha’ is. No dyin’ no matter how bad yer hurt.” 

Ben blinked and turned his head in the direction of Hook’s son. The pirate always had the air of someone much older than himself, but this was the first time Ben had seen the prickly teen look so openly haunted.

“One good thing ‘bout the Curse though. If ya were hurt bad enough, it’ll heal ya. Could always count on a slit throat to make ya right as rain again.”

Ben felt like the world had gone sideways at those words. It was too much, this Isle secret cut too deeply to bare-- and there was no time to process it or deal with it. And they hadn’t even opened up to him about it-- this was a secret that had been dragged into the light out of necessity. 

There was no time to reel with the horror of it, even as his mind supplied him with visions of his four friends being hurt so badly that they would slit each other’s throats to make things _better_. He turned to Doug, barely seeing him on the floor as he kept his voice as calm as he could.

“I need you to find Jane and Fairy Godmother and tell them what is happening.” He turned to Lonnie. While she was standing, she didn’t look much better than Doug did. “Lonnie, I need you to sound the alarm, tell people to keep anything that could be used as a weapon safe and that they should tell the four if they see them that there is no Curse to heal them on Auradon.” 

He couldn't bring himself to look at Uma or Harry. He didn’t know why they were so reticent to share this information (he knew), but he couldn’t bring himself to look either of them in the eye (how many times had they? And who had they?). Instead, he addressed Gil. “Keep an eye on all of the knives here.”

Ben turned to leave but was stopped by Gil’s hand on his sleeve. “They won’t do it until they feel like they’ve got time-- it takes-- it takes a while. You’ve got time.” The young King nodded but didn’t turn around, flying out of the door after Dizzy and Freddie.


	4. on the back foot

“What do we do?” Evie’s voice shook with barely contained nerves, but her hands were steady as she secured Mal to Jay’s back with their jackets. It was a tried and true design-- carefully but quickly threaded under arms and over shoulders so that even if any part of Mal were to slip, there would be three more parts keeping her tucked to Jay.

“The woods would still be our best bet to disappear.” Carlos’s voice was quiet as he kept one hand over Mal’s mouth to stifle the noises she made as she was jostled, while also keeping her upright while Evie tied and knotted the makeshift sling tightly across Jay’s chest.

The design only afforded the barest of supports for Mal’s injury though, emphasizing mobility over comfort. That was something they were all used to but Mal was still making a lot of noise. It was a pretty severe fracture then, or possibly even a full break-- for her to be so loud this deep in enemy territory.

Jay bent his knees slightly so Evie could reach up and stuff one of the thicker sheets of fabric from her purse into Mal’s mouth. It wasn’t perfect, but now at least the three could hear their surroundings better. There were no yells for them to stop and no people in sight, so at least all of their noise hadn’t attracted any attention from inside the building. Yet.

“We don’t have weapons so the forest is out. We can’t get Mal back up on her feet quickly out there.” Jay didn’t expect them to argue, but it was a relief when his declaration was met with nothing but stoic nods. They didn’t call him on the lie. There were many ways of getting Mal back up and running without weapons after all. 

The Arabian tried not to think of bruises in the shape of fingers fading from around his friend's throats, or of the scratches they left behind on his hands when their bodies instinctively fought for air. It was not quick or painless but there had been times when that had been the only option available to them.

Of course, they wouldn’t protest though-- they trusted him to keep them safe, to get them out of here, just like he always did. That unwavering trust in his abilities felt like a cheap trick now. He felt Mal lay her forehead against his back, falling still and quiet-- passed out probably. She was trusting him to keep them all safe too. He would just have to fake it until he could actually figure out what he was doing. Jay adjusted her to be more secure against him now that she wouldn’t be awake to feel the pain of it. “Let’s go back up. They won’t expect us to double back.”

Two more quick nods and the three began to climb back up the castle’s wall. There weren’t as many vines along this side of the building, but the architectural details between each floor made scaling from window ledge to window ledge easy enough. Even if no one had appeared yet, they couldn’t rule out that their pursuers had heard their shouts as Mal had fallen-- they needed to be up and out of sight well before the Auradians got to this side of the building for this gambit to work.

Jay was a little surprised at how easily he could haul both himself and Mal up. He had done similar stunts before-- out of necessity, but he remembered it being a lot more difficult. He felt a little drained, but his muscles didn’t scream at him for his hubris. He felt stronger. Did he have more muscle than usual? Despite having no idea when the last time he had eaten, he didn’t feel hungry either.

Carlos and Evie were waiting for him when he reached the roof. Stronger or no, climbing for two was slow work and he had to be careful not to let Mal spill from his back. He eyed them critically as they waited in a shadowed portion of the roof for him to catch his breath from the climb. They also looked healthier. Their cheeks were fuller and he couldn’t remember either of them ever looking so well-fed before.

The three rose silently, going over the peak of the roof and crouching low to the ground as they crept back in the direction they had come from. If the Auradians hadn’t given chase on the roof, it was likely they didn’t have a convenient way to access it. That automatically made this one of the safest places in the area if that were the case. Mal falling off had been a fluke-- he had seen the limp in her gait before they had made their mad dash for the roof the first time. After she was all fixed up, the roof would once again be the best choice for a clean getaway.

Crouched and quiet, their return trip took a lot longer than their frantic escape had.

Jay led the other two to a chimney on the thickest section of the building’s overly-complicated roof. It was impossible to see the ground from there, but hopefully, that would mean the reverse would be true as well. The thief sat on the roof, straddling the chimney stack as he untied the jacket and carefully lowered Mal to lay on the gentle slope. He slipped out from in front of her after Evie had a firm grasp on the unconscious girl’s arm.

The chimney would prevent Mal from sliding straight down and help to make them a much smaller target to spot for anyone who looked back towards the castle from the forest’s edge. Jay watched intently as Evie peeled back the makeshift bandage that she had wrapped around the wound to prevent it from leaving a trail of blood.

“It’s clotted-- I could try and open it back up?” But even as she said it, Jay knew she didn’t really think it was the best option either. His eyes caught on her blood-soaked fingers, voice catching in his throat before he could respond.

_They hadn’t done it before so they hadn’t known how to make it as fast, painless, and clean as possible. (Some veins were fast but messy.) He didn’t blame them-- Mal hadn’t either. It was their fault for being too beaten up to take care of each other. (There had been so much blood.) Carlos and Evie shouldn’t have had to-- But they had. Mal had been furious, enraged even and he had been too-- though neither of them had managed to find the words to fight with one another until Carlos and Evie had scrubbed the blood (Mal’s. Jay’s.) from their skin._

Carlos broke the tense silence, jolting Jay out of his reflections. “It wasn’t a vital vein or she would have bled out already. It’s not bad enough. We’ll find something to do it properly with.” 

Mal would be just as pissed if he let Evie handle it this time-- when there was no excuse, he wasn’t incapacitated. Besides which, Carlos was right. He reached up and adjusted his beanie, his mouth twisting into one of its trademark sly grins.

“Waaay too slow Princess. Me and ‘Los will find something. You just keep Sleeping Beauty company while we go find some supplies.” He winked, relieved when Evie rolled her eyes at his antics and seemed willing enough to drop the suggestion.

“Mal would stab you if she heard you calling her that.” Jay and Carlos laughed at Evie’s dry tone-- the sounds from their mouths soft secretive huffs that were at home in the shadows of their hiding place.

“Ye-ouch Princess-- you wouldn’t rat me out like that would you?”

“In a heartbeat Champ.” Evie carded the fingers of her clean hand through Mal’s tangled hair, leveling a wickedly sharp grin up at him as he and Carlos stood and prepared to slink away.

Feeling steadier and more confident, Jay followed Carlos to the edge of the roof, looking first at the ground for loitering Auradians before turning his attention to the top floor windows. Almost every single one of them was lit, light dancing between the closed shutters. They would start with the dark rooms-- he preferred cat burglary to armed robbery first and foremost-- and they weren’t even armed for starters which would make taking on older opponents of unknown build and skill way more dangerous than they had any time to deal with.

Plus, even if he listened to the cocky voice in his head that scoffed at the idea of anyone in Auradon being an actual threat-- all it would take was one yell or loud noise during a scuffle to bring guards running and ruin the tentative safety of the roof. All the more reason to stick to the unlit rooms.

The way that a majority of the rooms had their shutters tilted afforded Carlos and Jay an unobstructed view of the room from their position leaning over the side of the rooftop. It seemed most people here didn’t worry about peeping toms. Only a handful of the rooms were dark. One by one the pair ruled out the ones that weren’t empty. Some dark windows housed two people sleeping in a pair of matching beds, others revealed pairs of students who were quietly talking about the evening's big gossip--them, of course. But finding a weapon was still more pressing than collecting information, so he passed the whispering windows silently.

Only two of the rooms appeared to be completely empty. Jay kept watch as Carlos made quick work of slipping through the unsecured window of one-- a double suite? It only had one bed but was just as large as the others. He waited until Carlos signaled that the room was actually clear before he made his way back to the second empty one.

The shutters on this one were completely open and a careful second look after he had lowered himself to the ledge revealed that the room was good and truly empty. Perhaps the ones who lived in this room didn’t care about privacy at all-- most of the others had tilted theirs up at least. The window slid open even easier than the one Carlos had climbed in. Idiot Auradians-- but before Jay could even finish the thought, he only narrowly avoided snapping a thin thread that was carefully strung up taut on the floor in front of the window.

A trap? Carlos hadn’t tripped any or signaled that he had found or avoided any in the other room. Jay stood stock still just beyond the tripwire, surveying the room with a renewed sense of caution. Sure enough, below the other window that he could see from where he stood, there was another tripwire. Other than that the room looked safe enough though. 

The drawers weren’t trapped, nor were there any of the little tricks present that would let the occupants know if someone had been digging through them. That seemed odd when compared to the security measures around the windows. The room also felt strangely… familiar.

Jay shook the confusing thoughts from his head, systematically making his way through the drawers much faster. He had looked into twenty nearly identical rooms, that was all. He forced his eyes to look away from the valuables that were tucked neatly away in the drawers. He could come back for them later-- weapons, weapons, weapons. Useful supplies that wouldn’t slow them down, that’s what he needed.

But there was nothing useful in the drawers. He fought the urge to rip them out of the nightstands and dump them over the bed as his frustration mounted. The thief froze, dark brown eyes shooting to the tripwires under the window sills as he turned over a new idea in his mind. 

Carefully, he slipped the drawer he had been searching from its track and peered inside the nightstand. There was a newer piece of wood attached inside beneath the drawer to prevent anything from falling down to the floor beneath it. And there was _food_ inside. Jay unzipped his vest and gleefully stuffed the haul into the space between the leather and his chest. It wasn’t weapons, but it was at least a start.

Thrumming with excitement at this breakthrough, Jay put the drawer back in and turned his gaze back towards the other parts of the room he had already searched. There were many places he could imagine housing similar caches of goods. In fact, almost every single one he tried worked. Attached underneath the chests at the foot of each bed, pockets sewn into the bottoms of the curtains, even a small hole cut in the wall behind a painting! He was looking for some sort of bag to put all of the food he had found in when Carlos appeared at the open window.

“Absolutely no weapons. Found one apple though. How about you?” The smaller boy looked incredibly frustrated as he leaned in to look at Jay.

“Wait wait! Be careful coming in, there are tripwires under the windows.”

“Food and traps? I guess some Auradians _are_ sensible.” Carlos joked as he slipped in, just as cautiously as Jay had, light reflecting off his eyes as they shifted to take in the room and the pile of food his friend had taken to throwing on the bed.

“The food was hidden, Carlos.” 

For some reason, saying it out loud made Jay feel uncomfortable-- like he was pressing his hands to the side of a hive of wasps and considering shaking the thing violently. Like he was playing with fire. 

The black and white haired boy’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, looking somewhere between surprised and impressed but he said nothing. Maybe the room felt strangely familiar to him too. Jay cleared his throat, reaching over and grasping his smaller friend’s shoulder. 

“Pup, look someplace you would hide things.”

Carlos looked like he wanted to protest-- light brown eyes darting nervously to an empty dog bed-- but he only nodded, hesitating for a second before he slid carefully over to the bookshelf between the beds and behind the dog bed, pulling out the books and carefully flipping through them. It took a few minutes, but three of them were hollow-- full of metal bits and bobs and broken pieces of electronics that Jay was familiar with fishing out of the dumpster barges on the Isle. 

It had always made Carlos smile when Jay had presented him with those sorts of pieces-- but these were in much better shape than any of those had ever been. Uneasy and anxious, Jay watched Carlos try a few more places in the room, turning up more small metal and electronic knick knacks that were like upgraded versions of things he had seen his friend build out of Isle garbage. 

Jay returned to his own search, lips pressed in a thin tight line. If they hadn’t come to this room by pure accident, he would have sworn this room was a trap. He prided himself on being able to find people’s valuables, but to find something every single place he thought to look? Everything about these secret caches felt unsettlingly familiar. But it didn’t matter that he was uncomfortable, neither of them had found any weapons _still_. 

The Arabian was crawling underneath the bed, eyeing a hole in the bottom of the mattress when the room was suddenly filled with the sound of cheerful chiming that had him clambering up and off of the floor. His eyes darted around the room looking for the source of the noise.

Carlos was on his hands and knees across the room, but while his face was strangely pale as he looked down at a pile of papers, he didn’t look to be in pain. Jay made his way to his side and hauled the smaller boy to his feet, eyes still scanning the bedroom anxiously.

The chime faded and a woman’s voice filled the air.

“Students please remain calm and stay in your rooms. This is a magical emergency. Malady, Jadiir, Carlos, and Genevieve-- this is Fairy Godmother, you don’t remember me but it is very important that you listen to what I am saying. The Blessing of Protection is a spell that prevents people from doing permanent harm to others and it is tied to the barrier around the Isle of the Lost. It is not active on the mainland-- please be careful and come forward so that we can help with Malady’s injury. Anyone who sees them is to approach with caution but is under strict orders from the King not to attempt to touch any of the four unless the four give their permission.”

Jay could hear the same voice echoing in the rooms on either side of the one they were in, his face feeling tight with anger. _Broadcasting Mal’s injury for everyone to hear!_ But what was this woman even talking about, a blessing of protection on the Isle? The older woman’s voice was polite and proper despite the urgency of her tone, it reminded Jay of the Isle villains who prided themselves on being able to talk circles around people and convince them to do their bidding. His father was like that. Why couldn’t adults just say what they were trying to say? The order from the King also sounded strange-- if it wasn’t fake, they could definitely use it to their advantage--

Carlos must have seen the lack of realization in the Arabian’s face because his hands were as tight as claws as they dug into Jay’s arm. “The Curse Jay, she’s talking about the Curse!” 

Jay felt his head swim at the revelation. If there was no Curse-- then Mal could have died, _legitimately_ died, when she had fallen off the roof. If there was no Curse, she would be stuck with a broken leg for who knows how long! 

But worse… He tried to stop his body from shaking but he couldn’t. _If he had chosen to go into the woods and had suffocated Mal-- or even if he had chosen to do so when they made it to the roof-- she would have died by his hands for real._

He shook his entire body, tightening his hands into fists as he regained control over himself. “Medical supplies-- we need things to help with injuries now that we can’t--.” Carlos nodded, and the pair dove back into their search with renewed vigor. 

Jay returned to the hole in the bottom of the mattress, carefully reaching inside and pulling out a length of folded leather. Inside were three very sharp kitchen knives. The weapon cache was much much smaller than he would have personally felt comfortable with, but at least these sensible Auradians with their traps and their hidden food and valuables could also be counted on to have the bare minimum.

Carlos let loose a hoarse shout that had Jay bursting back out from underneath the bed, two of the knives in his hands. But there was no one else in the room still-- no strangers in the doorway or outside the windows. Just Carlos and a few strips of thin, unsharpened metal.

“ _What?_ ” Jay hissed, nerves already thoroughly shredded. He had no patience for surprises, even if it was the case that Carlos wasn’t one to startle easily.

Carlos’s mouth open and closed for only a half second of floundering before he managed to get the proper words to start pouring out.

“These are magnets! There’s metal in our clothes Jay! Blades!” The black and white haired boy let go of the magnet to reveal that it stuck to the hem of his vest. As shot as Jay’s mind felt, with a strange non-physical exhaustion, with actual physical tiredness, with the shock of the succession of unwelcome surprises, it didn’t take him more than the space of one breath to realize what that meant.

He and Carlos flew out of the window and back up to the roof without any of the things they had been pilfering from the room.

Their feet thudded loudly against the shingles as they ran at top speeds back to where they had left Evie and Mal. Something silver flashed in the blue-haired girl’s hands, and Jay’s reacted on pure instinct, tackling his friend away from where she was set to drag her hidden blade against Mal’s throat. 

“Stop!” Jay’s voice was cracked, panicked and loud, the word escaping him even as it was unnecessary. He and Evie were several feet away from Mal, thanks to his tackle-- she couldn’t cut Mal anymore even if she tried.

“Get the fuck off me Jay-- I know you and Mal don’t like it, but I don’t care! I thought--” Evie’s words were cut off when Carlos grabbed Jay’s arm and hauled him off of her.

“Just a scratch Jay-- just a small one, Mal’s okay!”

Jay curled his legs up and put his head in his hands, ignoring the angry and indignant hissing from Evie that immediately stopped the moment Carlos explained what they had learned.

“I thought-- I panicked, I couldn’t hear what they were announcing, and you were taking so long I thought they had captured you!” Jay looked up to see Evie scrambling over to Mal to double check Carlos’s assessment of the cut she had begun making on the other girl’s throat. “I knew I couldn’t protect Mal and go find you alone-- I found the knives in our clothes shortly after you two left.” Evie’s voice was very small and sounded tight in her throat. “I didn’t do it when I first found them because I knew-- I knew she’d be so mad when she woke up, but if I-- what if I hadn’t waited?!”

“You didn’t know Princess, none of us knew. It’s okay-- nothing happened.” Jay crawled over to where the other three were clumped against the chimney, feeling exhausted beyond all measure. 

His words weren’t coming out as convincing as he had been hoping they would, but it was better than silence. He pulled the blue-haired girl into a tight hug, watching Carlos clutch Mal’s hand between his as all three of them collectively huddled over the still passed out Mal.

Their speed had been necessary to reach the girls in time. But it also meant that this location was compromised. His tackle of Evie and their subsequent argument hadn’t exactly been quiet either. Already, Jay could hear the windows opening below them, with a swell of Auradian voices calling out their names.

He wanted to run. His skin crawled at the thought of those voices reaching him, reaching his pack. But he had no idea what to do or where to go. They were out of options and he had no way to ensure any of their safety anymore. 

Jay squeezed Evie tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been trying to keep up posting one a week but I've rapidly run out of prewritten chapters... So I probably won't have 5 done in time to post next Saturday-- but you never know! 5 is just giving me so much trouble as far as tone! 3: 
> 
> Anyways, hope you've enjoyed chapter 4! Next time, more Ben's POV (at least, that's the plan right now!)


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